Labor Day & an Easy T-Shirt Re-Style

For our family Labor Day is more than just a day off of work or a chance to hit up a few sales.  For us it's a chance to celebrate Husby's hard work as a member of the United Association, the social change that the organization stands for, and the history of worker's rights that organized labor has achieved.




 At the Parade



We call Labor Day 'Daddy's Holiday' and he gets to choose whatever meals he wants for the whole weekend.  In addition to all of that yummy (non heart healthy!) food, we also go to the Labor Day parade and picnic.

This year Husby planned to walk in the parade with his UA brothers and sisters.  The kids couldn't decide whether they wanted to walk with Daddy or 'watch' the parade (AKA collect candy).  So Husby suggested that we watch the parade not far from the picnic site, and then join the parade when he came by.  This was the perfect solution as it allowed the kids to both participate and watch.

Husby also thought it would be nice if we came wearing UA t-shirts.  I liked the idea, but I knew that the t-shirts available would all be really big and we would drown in them.  Then I got an idea, why not just re-style them into something that works?!

A Large T-Shirt

For the upcoming presidential election, the UA has endorsed Hillary Clinton, and the UA Political Task Force distributed these shirts to the locals.  The shirts feature the Hillary H on the front and the UA symbol on the back.

Keep reading to see how I re-fashioned this oversized t-shirt into an adorable tank top:

Supplies

To get started with my t-shirt, I grabbed  a pair of sewing sheers, a chalk pencil and a large platter from the kitchen.   What the what?! A platter?!  Yes!

Perfect Symmetry

I wanted my shirt to have a larger neckline, (almost a boat neck) so that when worn it would look very casual and layer over a tank nicely.  In order to do this I needed to remove the original collar and used one of my large kitchen platters to create a template.  In the past I have used dinner plates, bowls, you name it!  Just make your choice depending on the shape you are going for.

Tip:  Is there a design on the back of your shirt as well?  Make sure to take that into consideration before cutting!

Chalk Lines

Here you can see the line that I traced with the chalk pencil.

Cut-Out Collar

Carefully cut the fabric following your chalk line.  Make sure to keep the fabric flat and even, to avoid bunching.

Good-Bye Sleeves!

Since I was transforming this tee into a tank, off came the sleeves as well.  This was easy to do, I simply cut along the seams that were already in place.  After removing the sleeves, I also took in the side seams by about three inches on each side.

Fronts & Backs

Here you can see my finished tank (left) along with the shirts I re-styled for the Little Man and Baby Girl.

Middle:  For the Little Man I also went with a tank style.  His shirt was slightly more difficult to style because in order to take a man's XL down to a 4T I had to completely take apart the shirt.  Once the shirt was apart in two pieces (front and back) I used one of the Little Man's existing tank tops to trace the outline that I wanted.  I placed his tank on top of the design and traced a little larger in order to have plenty of room for a seam allowance and potential mistakes.  Then I sandwiched the pieces together (inside out so that the images were touching) and ran them through the sewing machine.  I had a little bit of trouble with the shoulders of his shirt and ended up stitching those by hand.

*Wouldn't it have been easier to make the Little Man's shirt from the large and use the XL for myself?  Uh, yeah, absolutely...but I didn't realize that they were different sizes until I was already almost finished!  :D :D :D 

Right:  For my Baby Girl I left the original collar and used a bowl to trace out the markings for new sleeves.  After cutting the sleeves, I took the seams in straight down from where the sleeves ended (I also used one of her currently fitting shirts as a guide).  With so much fabric removed, there was plenty left over to cut out a few 'ribbons'.  Each ribbon was about a foot in length and a quarter inch in width.  I used the ribbons to tie a bow at each shoulder, and another one to make a matching bow around her pony tail.

Side Note:  I didn't put in any new hems, but left the fabric unfinished instead.  I am by no means a seamstress, just a designer who likes to get creative!

All Done:  Front & Back

I was very pleased with how our shirts turned out, but also very nervous.  Luckily, everyone seemed to really like them.  One lady even left her post in the parade to come and ask where we got them!  Whew!

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016